GEORGE BORK NORTHERN ILLINOIS AERIAL ACE

Transcription

1 PAGE 8 By John Greenburg GEORGE BORK NORTHERN ILLINOIS AERIAL ACE Perfect. Number one. National champion College football record books are filled with the names of many teams, who, at one time or another, achieved those lofty goals; yet no squad ever attained such status the way the 1963 Northern Illinois Huskies did. This intrepid bunch ran the table with an unbeaten campaign, won a bowl game, were crowned the nation s top College Division unit; all due to the exploits of George Bork - the first college passer to enjoy a 3,000- yard season. Bork captivated his campus, causing his classmates to gladly wait in line for tickets to home games and drawing SRO crowds to NIU s stadium; and also gained national renown for the university in DeKalb, Illinois. Before Bork, DeKalb s only claim to fame was for being the town where barbed wire was invented, but in 1963, the school in the Illinois cornfields kept winning game after game with such numbers as: 55-7, 61-0 and 43-0 twice. Once the word got out, people all over the country made it a point to check the Northern Illinois scores. Much was said, both in print and by word of mouth, about the NIU quarterback who pumped the airways full of footballs, produced mind-boggling stats and did it by running eight out of ten plays from the Shotgun formation. This story actually begins in the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect in the late 1950s when George Bork starred as a football and basketball player for Arlington Heights High. In his senior year, George threw for 1002 yards out of a conventional T-formation offense. He was also very talented at baseball and golf, but excelled at basketball. Bork averaged over 22 points per game in those pre-three point line days, and most of his buckets came from way outside. At 6 1 and 160 pounds, there was far more interest in him as a basketball recruit. Michigan basketball coach Dave Strack was assembling a powerhouse that would include Cazzie Russell, and he coveted Bork for his long-range scoring ability. Unfortunately, when George asked about the possibilities of also playing football for the Wolverines, he was given an emphatic, No way! Wisconsin and Northwestern told him the same thing. Northern Illinois was the only school that offered Bork an opportunity to play both football and basketball, so that s how he landed in DeKalb. George s first two years at NIU were a time of adjustment for him and a great change for the university. Many of his teammates were Korean War veterans in school on the G.I. Bill and the

2 PAGE 9 school s enrollment doubled in that period. Northern had a good team in 1960, Bork s freshman year, that went 7-2. They were quarterbacked by Tom Beck a rollout passer who threw for 1176 yards and 11 TD s. Beck was injured in 1961, and that s when George got his chance. Bork led the Huskies in passing with 841 yards, although he only started for part of the schedule. The team s record that year, 4-4-1, wasn t great, but Northern Illinois head coach Howard Fletcher had noticed some qualities about the sophomore signal caller: his mobility and elusiveness, his ability to find open receivers while on the run, and an ingrained habit of squaring his shoulders with his target, resulting from those years of basketball. Fletcher also had other talented young offensive players - Gary Stems, Bork s roommate and a receiver with exceptional speed; Tall Hugh Rohrschneider, also a basketball player and skilled at muscling past defenders; Jack Dean, a good slot receiver; and Dave Broderick, a fullback with good size and speed who could catch the ball. With this group Fletcher decided to make a full commitment to a wide open passing attack in When Tom Beck realized that he couldn t fit in as a quarterback in this offense, he showed his mettle as a team player by converting to halfback Howard Fletcher, a native of Streator, Illinois, played as a tackle for Bob Zuppke at Illinois, then transferred to Northern, where he earned his BA degree in After serving in the Navy for four years during World War II, Fletcher began coaching high school football. He eventually became NIU s head coach in Years later, in discussing the offensive philosophy he used then, Fletcher said: I based it on the Spread Formation Football coached by TCU s Dutch Meyer, but I had the offensive line (Bob Evans at center, Roger Smith and Dennis Harrison at guards, and Ken Slimlo and Dave Mulderink at tackles) in real tight line splits. We also ran a lot more shotgun plays than TCU did. The basis of Northern Illinois version of the Shotgun was a part of Dutch Meyer s formation that the TCU coach called the Deep Zone Pass Formation. In this scheme, the passer, who Meyer called a tailback, was all alone in the backfield, five yards behind the center, and the fullback was deployed as a second slot man on the right. Its purpose was to give the passer time to attack defenders deep zones by completing passes deep downfield. From this formation, with a split end and two slots on the right, the second slot could assist in pass protection and also be used for short safety valve passes. Howard Fletcher modified this concept and, as Bork describes it: I always had a running back alongside of me. Coach Fletcher also used what he called the Blitz T ; in which I would first line up under center, then shift into the Shotgun Once in a while, we d use that three slot formation, with me all alone in the backfield, and we d have all five receivers go downfield and hook This wasn t just pitch and catch football. Coach Fletcher did a masterful job of reducing pass routes and pass protection to their elements. The Huskies practiced these fundamentals over and over, getting their timing down so precisely that their movements became muscle memory that they could almost do blindfolded. At times, it even amazed their coach. Fletcher recalls: One time I asked George how he was able to find the open receiver every single time. He said I feel it. Since Bork was also NIU s punter, Fletcher warned him never to run with the football, but sometimes George just couldn t restrain himself. Fletcher elaborated further on Bork s quarterbacking assets: George had great wrists. If he was rushed, he d throw off the wrong foot and still make the play, or he might be loping along and suddenly fire the ball with just a wrist snap. He also had the ability to take the shock of the biggest and roughest linemen breaking in on him He gave with the tackler. That was something you can t teach. Some have it, others don t. he was never careless with the ball. No matter how

3 PAGE 10 hard he was rushed, he wouldn t make fluttery desperation throws He s eat the ball first. That s the biggest reason he had so few interceptions. At that time, Howard Fletcher s view of offensive football was perceived as an oddity by many in the coaching profession Fletch recalled that when he spoke at a Chicago Catholic League coaches clinic, Woody Hayes went on and on for forty-five minutes about the nuances of the off tackle play, then it was my turn. I began by saying I m going to spend exactly two minutes on the off tackle play, then we re going to talk about the fastest way of moving the ball downfield; and that s by putting the ball in the air and spreading out your opponent. With their new offense, NIU compiled an 8-2 record in 1962 and Bork set nine national records. Since the Huskies were the champions of the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, they were invited to the Mineral Water Bowl in the resort town of Excelsior Springs, Missouri. A problem surfaced though, after they accepted the bid and agreed to play Adams State of Alamosa, Colorado. Adams State s coach, Darrell Mudra, insisted that the game be played as iron man one platoon football, which some college conferences were still playing. George Bork, skinny as he was, wound up playing defensive back, as well as quarterback As he recalls: I was just glad they didn t try to throw many passes in my area. Northern Illinois lost that game, 23-20, a bitter pill to swallow because of Adams State insisting on playing by their rules. This disappointment motivated the Huskies and gave them unfinished business to take care of in During the summer of 1963, George did all he could to prepare for his teams Second Chance Season. He d even drive into Chicago so that he could run on the beach along Lake Michigan to enhance his endurance, strengthen his hamstrings and build muscle; but it still didn t add any bulk to Bork He went into the 1963 season at 175 pounds. A total of 26 lettermen returned for Northern, filled with resolve for the 1963 campaign. Before the season started Bork said records are nice, but not as nice as winning. My biggest thrill would be to play with an unbeaten team. NIU won its first two games by a combined score of 116-7, then rolled on through their ninegame schedule unscathed. There were some close ones though, especially the IIAC showdown in Mt Pleasant, Michigan against Central Michigan. Howard Fletcher remembered that game well: We were down with a minute and 33 seconds left. George took em 72 yards for the winning touchdown and put it in the end zone with 10 seconds left on the clock. He hit on 10 out of 15 passes on that drive. In that win, Bork connected on a record 43 of 68 passes, and his

4 PAGE 11 roommate Gary Sterns made 17 receptions. Though the Huskies played a College Division schedule, their slate wasn t loaded with cream puffs. Bork attested to that when he remembered what it was like when he and his teammates played Hillsdale College: They put the hardest rush of any team on me. One of their linemen hit me in the nose. I thought I was going to get two black eyes out of it, but I didn t. I only wore a single bar instead of the full face mask because it gave me better vision. Hillsdale was rough, but they weren t the biggest. Omaha (now the University of Nebraska at Omaha) had a line that averaged 250, with two brothers at the ends, Brian and Kevin Kadow, who weighed 280 each, and a defensive center, Jack Peterson, over 300. But they weren t as mobile as Hillsdale. NIU won both of those hard fought games: beating Nebraska-Omaha, 18-7, and Hillsdale, At the end of the regular season, the NIU statistics revealed that Bork had thrown for 3,077 yards (an average of yards per game), on 244 completions out of 374 attempts, and 32 TD s. By November the Huskies were household words. A three-page spread on Bork, titled A Big Man In Any League appeared in the November 11, 1963 issue of Sports Illustrated, then NIU s team and Bork were mentioned in Time magazine. SI s Gwilym Brown stated in his piece that Bork threw, with the wrist-snapping motion of a man firing darts. Highlights from game films were aired nationally on CBS-TV, and an interview with George was broadcast nationwide on NBC Radio s Weekend Monitor. In addition to all the attention from the national media, the pro scouts began converging on the NIU campus. Green Bay s Liz Blackbourn, the Cowboys Gil Brandt and the 49ers Lynn Pappy Waldorf all made November trips to DeKalb. Meanwhile, the unbeaten Huskies had accepted a return bid to the Mineral Water Bowl. This time, however, they would play Southwest Missouri State and they would be allowed to substitute more freely, and could insert offensive and defensive units on each change of possession They had their second chance, All the additional attention only added to the pressure for the post-season matchup, because the Mineral Water Bowl wasn t just an extra game tacked onto the schedule. The bowl festivities also included a queen chosen by members of the NFL s Kansas City Chiefs, along with a parade through Excelsior Springs that included more than 50 marching units, bands and floats. Northern had over 10,000 students then, and the game stirred up such enthusiasm that a large contingent arranged a chartered flight to the game. Roosevelt Field in Excelsior Springs, with its 6500 seats, was filled to capacity when the Mineral Water Bowl kicked off on November 30, On the game s first play from scrimmage, from Northern s 25 yard line, Bork surprised the spectators when he ran with the ball out of the Shotgun for 28 yards. George then completed a pass to Hugh Rohrschneider for another first down at the 32 of the Bears of Southwest Missouri. On the next play, the Huskie passing ace faded back to throw, but again kept the ball himself for another first down on the Bears 21. Two more plays moved the pigskin five yards closer to the end zone, but SW Missouri s Charley Wade suddenly ended NIU s march when he intercepted a Bork aerial at the Bears 11 yard line. After Northern Illinois got the football back at the 20 after a punt, Bork connected on a trio of passes, including one for 17 yards to Rohrschneider for a first down at the Bears 42. On the next snap, George floated a screen pass out to Ed Janoski. The Huskie halfback received great blocks and took it all the way for the touchdown. Northern led, 7-0, after only six seconds had been played in the second quarter, and the Huskies had needed only five plays to cover the 80 yards for the score. Southwest Missouri, however, mounted an 18-play, 72-yard scoring drive after the ensuing kickoff to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:40 left, which was still the score at the intermission At the start of the second half, Southwest Missouri launched a clock-eating drive from its 37 down to the Northern Illinois 11, but the tough Huskie defense stopped the march there. Then,

5 PAGE 12 late in the third quarter, NIU began at its 15 yard line and, two plays later, had a first down at the 28. Bork noticed that SW Missouri s defense had dropped off to cover downfield, so he lobbed a screen pass to his fullback, Dave Broderick, and the play carried to the Huskies 48 yard line. Four more plays resulted in a first down at the Bears 41, then Bork burned the Missourians again with a screen to Broderick, this time for 17 yards. From the SW Missouri 24, Bork took the snap, faked two handoffs, rolled to the right and fired to Rohrschneider in the end zone. The Huskies were ahead, The tough NIU defense came through again and forced the Bears to punt. On Northern s next possession, Bork flared a screen pass out to fullback Broderick, and thanks to a marvelous block by Ken Slimko, Broderick motored 40 yards to a touchdown that put the Huskies up Southwest Missouri wasn t through for the day, though, as Jerry Melton momentarily silenced the Huskie fans when he connected with Cornelius Perry for a 66-yard touchdown bomb right after the kickoff, to tighten up the count at But then George Bork sealed the deal with a magnificent punt that rolled dead at the Bears two yard line and ended any hopes for a SW Missouri comeback The NIU gunner s statistics for the game included 27 bullseyes out of 41 attempts for 327 yards and three touchdowns, and he also punted five times for a 40.4 average. NIU hauled home lots of hardware in addition 1963 to the victor s trophy: Bork was voted the Mineral Water Bowl s Northern Illinois Outstanding Back, Tom Walz was the Outstanding Lineman, and Mike Henigan was chosen Outstanding Tackler. UW - Whitewater 55-7 Winona State 61-0 NE Missouri State Nebraska-Omaha 18-7 Hillsdale Illinois State 43-0 Eastern Illinois 43-0 Western Illinois Central Michigan SW Missouri State The bowl game triumph wasn t the last game that Bork and Rohrschneider played that year. Both appeared in the North- South Game in Miami, Florida, and Hugh caught five passes in the contest for 169 yards. Then, George and Hugh starred in the Challenge Bowl all-star classic in Corpus Christi, Texas. In that game Bork completed 20 of 27 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns, ran for a third TD, and won Outstanding Back honors. Rohrschneider caught 10 passes for 207 yards and was voted the Outstanding Lineman, as Hugh and George s team won, The players in the Challenge Bowl were paid and, due to the eligibility rules of that time, that resulted in George not being allowed to play basketball his senior season. Despite setting 16 national records and being named his conference s Most Valuable Player, George Bork wasn t drafted by any NFL team Evidently, his lack of size turned them off. He signed a contract, instead, with the Canadian Football League s Montreal Alouettes. George played four seasons in Montreal, and it s ironic that one of his coaches in Canada was the same Darrell Mudra who caused NIU so much trouble in Bork ended his football career playing two seasons for the Chicago Owls of the Continental League - a seminal version of the spring/summer pro football concept which eventually led to the WFL and, later, the USFL. There are fans of any sport who love to argue about what might have been, and they might be the first to carry on about what Bork might have done in the NFL if he had been pounds heavier. They would all be missing the point though. George Bork was one of college football s finest performers, and the recognition he brought to his university led to the eventual construction of the 30,000-seat Huskie Stadium - the House That Bork Built - and to NIU s entry into Division I football. In 1999, George Bork is being enshrined with his true peers as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.